Is anyone buying anything for black Friday?

[Bluewavescrashing]

I've bought one thing only, a present for a big birthday for my mum, that is genuinely half price compared to the best price for the last few months. I think a lot of the deals aren't that great though. How about you?

[BackInTime]

I don't have dot or echo or Google home or alexa or anything. Creepy as fuck and I will not have one in my house, ever.

I agree. There's a reason they are going cheap, your family's data is a valuable commodity for Google and Amazon.

[commanderdalgliesh]

I got a sonicare diamond clean with£200 off( would anyone ever pay full price!) anyway I love it.

[OhMsBeliever]

I bought an amazon fire stick as we currently watch tv through an Xbox 360, but it's obsolete so can't now watch bbc iPlayer, or all4 as they've been discontinued.

I was looking to get one anyway, but deliberately waited as I guessed the price would come down for Black Friday.

Also buying some band merch from EMP for my kids for Christmas, they've got a discount code for Black Friday.

[HoldMyLobster]

Am I the only person on the planet without a Dot

I don't have a Dot but I do have a Spot

[coconuttelegraph]

Not a necessity @coconuttelegraph , just an indulgence

Now you're clearly having us all on, it's OK for you to have indulgences but not anyone else? Your whole arguments has been about people buying things they don't need when you are doing exactly that!

[HoldMyLobster]

Really interesting to see how many people are getting the Echo dot. DH won’t have voice activated assistants in the house (privacy/abuse of data concerns) but if we could I’d get the Google stuff over Amazon, simply because the Amazon ecosystem is so tightly tied to ordering stuff. Those who already have it, do you find you buy more, either physical or streamed stuff?

We don't order anything via the Echo, but we do use it fairly extensively for search. Part of my job is optimizing websites for search, and we're definitely looking at how to optimize better for voice-activated search.

I would assume that more and more will get ordered via Echo going forward, especially those items that people order regularly from the same Amazon vendor.

Not sure about streaming - that's an interesting question. We're also looking at Alexa Skills and Alexa Flash Briefings.

[Slumberly]

@coconuttelegraph If you know of anyone doing Black Friday deals on LSD or pure MDMA, please pass their details on

[Nicknacky]

Wow, you are so, so cool talking about drugs slumberly

[AllStarBySmashMouth]

I was hoping to get a Switch but the deals aren't really selling it for me.

[joffreyscoffees]

Bought DD a Kindle Fire kids - think it was £84.99 down to £49.99.

[AllStarBySmashMouth]

Also for Christ's sake Slumberly. No, not everything is a necessity but do you know what? I work hard and I can spend my money on whatever the fuck I want. And if I want to pay £300 for a games console I will. Now, I'm off to make some toast with the toaster I don't need.

[Soubriquet]

The switch is good fun!

I can recommended it! It’s really fun to play with the family too

[TrixieFranklin]

Eh? So drugs, travel and going to shows are ok ways to spend money because that's what you're into.. but me and my love of salty buttered toast are to be judged as non essential? Fuck off.

[highlandcoo]

Agree with PPs that echo dot and Alexa are creepy. Far too close to Big Brother is watching you for me. Not a moral judgement on spending your money on that sort of stuff but isn't being potentially listened to at any time concerning?

[Changelingfrommars]

I’m looking for a MacBook Air - really hoping there’ll be a bargain to be had over the next week or so.

[GoGoLego]

Waiting to buy a few presents.

Might buy a few dvds as recently got rid of our old system and there some classics on there which I'm not prepared to rely on Netflix for

[Allmyarseandpeggymartin]

This thread is amazing!

[PassingIntoTheWest]

I wouldn't have an Echo / dot / similar either. I'm amazed that so many people would without giving it a second thought.

[HoldMyLobster]

I wouldn't have an Echo / dot / similar either. I'm amazed that so many people would without giving it a second thought.

I gave it a second thought but bought one anyway...

Still what do I know? Apparently I spent £1700 on a sofa and spend my life on long haul flights

[PassingIntoTheWest]

I'm now giving it a second thought and wondering how it could improve my life 😂. I do worry about the privacy implications though.

[user1019273703]

Got a amazon dot which I have been wanting for a while

[OhMsBeliever]

My kids have an echo dot to listen to music in their bedroom. They rarely actually talk to each other so it would be a very boring eavesdropping session!

I have a google home mini in the kitchen, it came free when I got family Spotify, but the microphone is off, I just use it as a speaker as I don't want it listening to me shouting at the kids/singing along to my music as I'm cooking dinner.

[TonOfLead]

What milk frother did you get Veronicat?

I'm mulling over getting an echo dot for my DM. She has mobility issues and lives alone - I thought it might be useful for calling family/neighbours if she fell. Has anyone used it for that purpose?

Also, on the subject of the dot - can Alexa answer the interminable DC questions that I don't know the answer to such as whether a wolf or leopard can run faster or the size of a whale/basking/great white shark?

[Veronicat]

@TonOfLead I got one from Aldis online. I did consider the Lavazza one from John Lewis as its down to £19 too.

[Caspianberg]

I'm hoping to get a good deal on a baby car seat. I could put them in a wheelbarrow lined with straw i guess and hike 15miles to nearest shop instead. But a) i would have to buy an actual wheelbarrow first, b) I like to get somewhere and back within a morning rather than 2 days.